Assassinated gangster Christopher “Git” Zambra had become a paranoid loner who believed his food was poisoned, we can reveal.

The 39-year-old drug dealer, blasted to death last Sunday outside his sister’s house, had refused to eat food at Dublin’s Cloverhill Prison because he thought other inmates were trying to kill him.

The psycho, who was cleared of murdering John “Champagne” Carroll in August 2013 after a retrial, had become so suspicious of fellow lags that he even had the television in his cell removed as he feared it was bugged.

Gardai at the scene of Christopher Zambra murder on the Cooley Road

A prison source told the Irish Sunday Mirror Zambra became increasingly isolated while behind bars and would rarely leave his cell.

The source said: “For such a feared mob boss, Zambra really was paranoid.

“It got to the point where he wouldn’t communicate with anyone other than staff coming to and from court.

“He also had the TV in his cell taken out as he feared it was bugged. He would spend hours just reading and playing guitar instead.

“Just before his release from prison the level of paranoia he was experiencing became so bad he refused to eat certain meals served to him as he seriously believed that the food had been tampered with.”

We can also reveal leading members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang let out a huge cheer when they heard of Zambra’s murder.

The prison source continued: “This guy had a lot of enemies and he had stepped on a lot of people’s toes.

“He is believed to have had a run-in with members of the Limerick gang while in Cloverhill and they were only too delighted to hear of his untimely death.”

The dad-of-one was on his way to meet relatives for lunch when two cars blocked his vehicle at the front and rear on Cooley Road, Drimnagh, West Dublin.